Fearless Females 2016

March is Women's History Month and Lisa Alzo at The Accidental Genealogist has compiled some prompts to encourage blogging about female ancestors.

On the first of March we are challenged to write about a favorite ancestor. Rachel Andrews Colman is a woman who comes to mind immediately. Rachel lived through almost the entire eighteenth century and left very few records for a lifetime of experiences.  I first wrote about her here.

As I go over the research I have done over the years, I have been forced to reevaluate the assumptions I made even a few years ago.  I have visited Rachel's grave in Ashby, Middlesex, MA.  She is buried in the front row in the center of town with her husband James.  A tree has grown up around her headstone, obscuring the inscription. According to the headstone, she was 92 when she died in 180? She is not listed in the Ashby death records, and I am not certain of the year of her death.  That means her birth could have been between 1708 and 1717. She is not found in the Ipswich births or marriages, where her first known child was born in 1734.

As are most women of that time, her existence is noted only by the births of her children between 1734 and 1758 in Ipswich, Lunenburg, and Ashburnham. There were eleven recorded, with biblical names of Job, Rachel, Solomon and Ruth.  They moved away from the coastal settlement of Ipswich to the frontier sixty miles to the west with their young family to an area first known as "Dorchester Canada." It was so remote that records were kept for years at the more secure town of Lunenburg.

Her child-bearing years were times of hard work building a farm and establishing a new town, with a near constant fear of attack, disease, or other hardships caused by weather or natural disasters. She was pregnant almost half of the time, with children born in two year increments.  James was a Selectman, and held other positions of responsibility in the local government.

Although her husband lived into his sixties, she lived thirty years longer. Their youngest daughter was 15 and other children were settled nearby when she was widowed in 1773. Although I wish I knew more about her life in those years, her experiences would have been much like any woman of that time.  But after James' death, where did she go?  Did she remain in their home for a time, or live with one or more of her children or grandchildren? She saw four sons respond to "the Alarm" of 1775 and join in the rebellion against the British. She saw the growth of her community, the birth of the new nation,and grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

I would like to know where she was when she died, when she was brought to rest beside her husband. I would like to picture her in her old age, and know who was with her. When I visit her in Ashby, I surely wish she would speak to me.

Signature from Middlesex County probate file for James Colman

Notable Women Ancestors: Rachel Andrews Colman

Can you imagine the changes and experiences of a woman who lived through almost an entire century in colonial Massachusetts? Details are scant, but her life of 92 years would be remarkable in any time. She survived the hard work of everyday life on the frontier, bearing eleven children, wars and diseases. The family's attitude of stepping up and participating in each new governmental process is attested by her husband's activities in the community. If only "women's work" had been included in the historical records we might know more about her part in the settlement of north-central Massachusetts!

Rachel Andrews Colman was born about 1716. Her parents were Ezekiel Andrews and Abigail Curtis. The place of her birth or marriage is uncertain, likely in or near Ipswich, MA. She was married to James Colman, and their first child, Elizabeth, was born in Ipswich in 1734. Church records of Chebacco (Essex) parish list four more children born in the following years: James in 1736; Rachel in 1738; Ezekiel Andrews in 1740; Job in 1741.

About 1743 the family moved west a distance of 50 miles, and transferred their relationship from the Ipswich church to Lunenburg in 1744. She was 27 with four children under ten as they left "civilization" of a colonial port town which had been in existence for over 100 years for the unknown wilderness.

More children are enumerated in the Lunenburg church records, although it is believed that the family settled in the northeastern part of “Dorchester Canada,” which became Ashburnham and is now in Ashby. They were among the earliest permanent settlers of the area. The years between 1744 and 1749 were dangerous times on the “frontier” and many settlers gathered at the fortifications in Lunenburg during periods of unrest during the French and Indian war.

The remaining children born to Rachel and James include: Mary in 1744; Aaron in 1746; Benjamin in 1749; Solomon in 1752; Ruth in 1754; and Abigail in 1758. That same year her 20-year-old daughter Rachel married Daniel Harper in Lunenburg. Her children spanned 24 years and had names chosen to honor grandparents and biblical figures.

In 1760 a church was established in Ashburnham and the family transferred their church relations there. Her husband, James, was an active member of the community and was named to committees by the proprietors. Records state that James was granted “about one acre and one hundred rods between the house where he now dwells and the saw mill yard which belongs to Moses Foster Jr. and Zimri Heywood” for “his good service in said township in promoting the settlement there.” When Ashburnham was incorporated in 1765, he was chosen as a selectman and surveyor of the highways at the first town meeting. When Ashby was set off as a town, one of the boundaries was delineated along the land of James Colman. James was also one of the first Selectmen in Ashby. When the church was established, the Colman family was assigned the first pew, signifying their place first on the tax rolls based on assets.

Their other children married and began families. Job and Benjamin married sisters, Elizabeth and Susannah Martin in 1766 and 1770, respectively. James died in 1773 and is buried in Ashby in the “front row” of the old cemetery in the town center. Rachel was 57 and had many years ahead of her. Their youngest child was 15. Sons Job and Aaron gave permission to Benjamin to administer his estate, indicating that neither James or Ezekiel were still alive. Solomon was of age but he was not a signatory to the document. Job had continued the westward migration, moving west to Shelburne, MA

What was her life like in the 35 years after her husband’s death? A nation was born, a constitution written, and Ashby remained a quiet, farming community. Sons fought in the Revolutionary war, daughters bore children of their own. Sons Benjamin and Solomon remained in the area and gave her grandchildren. Rachel died on April 27, 1808 and is buried with James and some of their adult children. Her death is not listed in the Ashby records. Was she living with one of her children elsewhere at the time? This a woman with whom I'd love to have a long conversation...

Samuel Colman comes from Massachusetts to New York State in 1794

Samuel Colman was the first family name, written on a cemetery monument, that started me wondering about my family history. My mother, Betty Coleman Simmons, grew up in Cooperstown, NY and I had many visits there with my grandmother and her sisters. When she photographed Sam's grave marker while passing through Richfield Springs, NY in 1990, I started wondering about the other names I had never heard before. That's when I started to dig into the records. Luckily, Massachusetts vital records are well documented. The following "story" is constructed from these bare facts and supplemented with deeds, newspaper items, letters and published histories.


Samuel Colman was born in colonial Ashburnham, Massachusetts on September 28, 1768. His baptism was recorded on December 22, 1769. He was the second child and first son of Job Colman and Elizabeth Martin. His sister Mary was two years older. His family moved west to Shelburne, MA about 1772. By that time there were two more siblings: Elizabeth born on 11 August 1770, and John born 21 June 1772. Job Colman bought land from Daniel Beldon in Shelburne in 1773. They lived near the Deerfield River, at the end of Barnard Road, near the family of Parker Dole, where another sister, Rachel, was born in 1774.

When the “shot heard round the world” was fired in Concord it was heard in Shelburne. Samuel was a boy of 5. His father Job marched with Captain Hugh McClellen’s Minute Men of Colrain on April 20, 1775. Records show he served 15 ½ days. Again under Captain John Wells Company in the Northern Department, he served from 22 September to 28 October 1777.

Samuel had five more brothers and another sister: Benjamin in 1776 (died in 1777 as many local children succumbed to an illness that year); Rhoda in 1778; Benjamin in 1780; Joseph Emerson in 1783; Zenus in 1785; Zur in 1789.

On 30 June 1794 in Shelburne, 24 year-old Samuel married Nabby Dole, four years his junior. Soon after they moved west into New York State. They settled in Stewart’s Patent, now part of Springfield, Otsego County, NY. According to The History of Springfield, “In his young manhood he journeyed into what was then ‘the unknown west’ seeking a desirable location for a home. Lured by the beauty of the hills and woods he purchased from the town a tract of timber land near Allen’s Lake and erected a log cabin.”

Children born to Samuel and Nabby included:

• Anson 17 March 1795
• Franklin about 1797
• Horace about 1800
• Homer about 1802
• Hamilton 7 October 1804
• Caroline
• Nelson about 1807
• Charles Darwin after 1810
• Parker 1813

Of these children, only Parker was given a family name, after Nabby's father Parker Dole.

In 1798 Samuel was appointed Lieutenant of the militia in a new company in the Town of Otsego, under Captain Asa Fisk (Otsego Herald 14 June 1798).

The 1800 and 1810 census’ of Springfield also include a John Col(e)man. The age bracket indicates that it could be Samuel’s brother John. In 1810 this John had six children. In 1820 he is no longer listed in Springfield. A Heath MA town history, which includes a discussion of the division of their father Job’s land, indicates that John had died by 1812 when the land was probated. No further information has been found about this family. Names of other than the head are not included on the census before 1850.

At the annual town meeting in Otsego in 1803, Samuel was named Commissioner of Highways, with Abner Pier and Israel Loomis (Otsego Herald 10 March 1803).

The Otsego County Registry of Deeds documents the purchase in 1804 of 52½ acres of land by Samuel Colman for $800 from Perry Allen, being a portion of lot 55 of McNeil’s patent. In 1818 he purchased the easterly side of lot 56 from Richard Elwood for $605.

In the summer of 1805 his parents’ family was stricken by typhus, along with several neighbors in Heath, MA where they had relocated. Rhoda, aged 26, died as well as Zenus, aged 19, Joseph, aged 21, then both parents. Their graves in the old Shelburne Hill cemetery are not marked. The youngest, Zur, survived. He was 16. His guardianship is registered in the Hampshire County records. Samuel inherited a portion of the property which was later sold to a neighbor.

In 1814 he was named a justice of Otsego County, along with a long list of others (Otsego Herald 23 April 1814).

On January 1, 1817 “a respectable number of citizens from several towns in the county of Otsego convened at the house of Col. Henry…to consider the expediency of organizing a society for the promotion of Agriculture and the Useful Arts” (Otsego Herald 9 January 1817). Samuel Colman was named Secretary. James (Fenimore) Cooper was also an officer. The Colmans were progressive farmers, taking a strong interest in improved farming methods. Otsego County was reputed for improved agricultural methods, pioneering the introduction and breeding of superior grades of livestock. Samuel Colman subscribed to the Genesee Farmer, which promulgated new methods of agriculture.

At the annual town meeting in Otsego in 1817, Samuel was named School Commissioner with Oliver Cory and Abraham Van Horne (Otsego Herald 6 March 1817.)

Parts of Otsego were annexed to the Town of Springfield in 1825. The description of wards 30 and 31 reference the “School House by Samuel Coleman’s.”

Education was important to the Colmans. Son Anson received medical training under a Dr. Palmer in Richfield Springs. He settled in Rochester, NY, marrying a daughter of founder Nathaniel Rochester. He studied in Boston, Philadelphia, London, and Paris; was instructed in the treatment of cholera in Montreal; lectured at the Geneva NY Medical College for two years (Rochester Historical Society, Publications, 1943).

On July 2, 1830 his youngest child, Parker Dole Colman was drowned in Rochester, NY at the age of 17. He may have been studying there and living with Anson.

Son Hamilton taught school as a young man. He worked a dairy farm near his father’s farm. In 1838 he was Commissioner of Deeds for Otsego County, and he served as town supervisor for Richfield Springs in 1858. His son Norman became the first Secretary of Agriculture under U.S. President Grover Cleveland in 1889, having been commissioner since 1884. He was a teacher, a lawyer, and lieutenant governor of Missouri.

Charles was a lawyer. In 1845 he was "admitted as attorneys and counselors of the Supreme Court" with a list of others. He lived in St. Louis, MO in 1860 and Ann Arbor, MI in 1870.

Between 1841 and 1846 Samuel transferred land to his son Homer. The 1850 census lists Samuel living with Homer. A letter from son Franklin to Horace in 1853 expresses outrage that Homer and his wife “have succeeded in their knavery, they have stealthily and deceitfully taken from Father every vestige of his title Deeds, they have stolen a sacred contract entered into for the support of Father & Mother. They have abused & maltreated our Father & Mother & finally to cap the climax of iniquity they have turned my dear enfeebled Parents out of their own house & taken possession themselves.” The 1855 NY state census lists Samuel and Nabby living with Horace and his wife Nancy.

Of his children, Horace, Homer and Hamilton remained nearby. Franklin, Nelson and Charles went west. A record of Caroline's marriage or death has not yet been found. She will require more research.

Samuel Colman died in Springfield on 22 December 1857 and was buried in Richfield Springs with Masonic Honors. His obituary in the Freeman’s Journal states: “He has held various offices of trust and responsibility, which he discharged with strict fidelity, and now in his 90th year, is ‘gathered to his fathers’ in perfect charity with all mankind, and in the confident hope of a glorious immortality.”

Nabby Colman died less than two years later, on 6 May 1859. She was 85.